It seems Korean desserts are quite popular around here. By request, here’s another that is a traditional Korean sweet. Not surprisingly, it’s made from rice. Yakbap in Korean means literally “medicine rice”. It is thought that the combination and abundance of healthy nuts and dried fruits was a health booster.

Be sure to use SWEET, or GLUTINOUS rice, not regular short grain rice. You can also find roasted, peeled and pre-packaged chestnuts sold in Asian groceries, or even some supermarkets. Korean dried jujubes (dates) can also be found at Asian groceries. Please do not use American or Middle Eastern type dates. Korean dates are much less sweet than regular dates. If you can’t find them, use raisins. Personally I think Yakbap tastes best after it’s cooled and chilled a couple hours in the fridge. I like the cool chewiness it gets. On the other hand, my mom won’t eat Yakbap unless it’s been slightly warmed in the microwave.

The recipe calls for pine nuts, but I substituted whole almonds instead. My grandmother would kill me if she knew. But hey, she’s not here now, is she?

Yakbap (Korean steamed sweet rice cake)adapted from Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen

Rinse rice thoroughly about 3 – 5 times in cold water. Soak rice in lukewarm water for at least 1 hour. Drain rice and combine with the rest of the ingredients in a rice cooker, mix together, and turn on the rice cooker. When the rice cooker is done, pack the yakbap lightly into an 8×8 greased baking pan. Let cool. Cut into serving sized pieces. Keeps 2 days chilled, 3 weeks frozen, microwave for 10-20 seconds to rewarm.